What Are Rappers Really Saying About The Police?

Hip-hop music is frequently described as violent and anti-law enforcement, with the implication that its artists glorify criminality. A new content analysis subtitled “Hip-Hop Artists’ Perceptions of Criminal Justice“, by criminologists Kevin Steinmetz and Howard Henderson, challenge this conclusion.

After an analysis of a random sample of hip-hop songs released on platinum-selling albums between 2000 and 2010, Steinmetz and Henderson concluded that the main law enforcement-related themes in hip-hop are not pleasure and pride in aggressive and criminal acts, but the unfairness of the criminal justice system and the powerlessness felt by those targeted by it.

Lyrics about law enforcement, for example, frequently portrayed cops as predators exercising an illegitimate power. Imprisonment, likewise, was blamed for weakening familial and community relationships and described a modern method of oppression.

Their analysis refutes the idea that hip-hop performers are embracing negative stereotypes of African American men in order to sell albums. Instead, it suggests that the genre retains the politicized messages that it was born with.

Steinmetz and Henderson offer Tupac’s “Crooked Nigga Too” (2004) as an example of a rap that emphasizes how urban Black men are treated unfairly by police.

Yo, why I got beef with police?

Ain’t that a bitch that motherfuckers got a beef with me

They make it hard for me to sleep

I wake up at the slightest peep, and my sheets are three feet deep.

The authors explain:

Police action perceived as hostile and unfair engenders an equally hostile and indignant response from Tupac, indicating a tremendous amount of disrespect for the police.

Likewise, Jay-Z, in “Pray” (2007), raps about cops who keep drugs confiscated from a dealer, emphasizing a “power dynamic in which the dealer was unfairly taken advantage of but was unable to seek redress”:

The same BM [‘‘big mover’’—a drug dealer] is pulled over by the boys dressed blue

they had their guns drawn screaming, “just move or is there something else you suggest we can do?”

He made his way to the trunk

opened it like, “huh?”

A treasure chest was removed

cops said he’ll be back next monthwhat we call corrupt, he calls payin’ dues

Henderson offers Jay-Z’s “Minority Report” as a great overall example:

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I agree with this article 100%! I was really getting tired of people always saying that rap music was about disrespecting the police. Many black people understand that the basis of these lyrics (for the most part) are not about disrespecting anyone, they are simply talking about different aspects of the criminal justice system that blacks, especially men, have to deal with on a daily basis. For example, racial profiling is very common in the black community but when things like this are brought up in rap lyrics, “White America” tends to dismiss topics like this by simply saying things like, black people do not like police. By making such statements, it allows them to continue not to address such problems and brush them under the rug. however, the more you look at these situations, the more feelings of disrespect can seem justifiable. They aren’t telling everyone to disrespect them, they are simply making it known to the public the events that are taking place and the scandalous things the members of the criminal justice system part-take in. Knowing that people are taking the time to try and understand the reason why rappers feel this way does make me smile. As long as the truth is out there, I cannot really complain. I just hope it makes a difference. The last statement that says, they found that rappers did not have a problem with justice, just the way in which it was being implemented, says it all. it is just another way for us to ask for fair treatment under the law.

Race, Culture, and Identity in a Colorstruck World

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